UTSA point guard Ereauna Hardaway pushes the ball up court against Connecticut in the NCAA tournament. UConn advanced with a 90-52, first-round victory on their home court in Storrs. Hardaway finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. – Photo by Denise DePiero, courtesy of UTSA athletics

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

An exhilarating postseason run came to a painful end on Saturday afternoon when the UTSA Roadrunners walked off the floor at Gampel Pavilion, finally beaten, at the hands of the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies.

From March 7-14, the Roadrunners stunned their rivals in the American Conference by winning five games in a row.

They punctuated the streak by claiming four wins in four days in Alabama to win the conference’s postseason title, allowing them to qualify for their first NCAA women’s basketball tournament in 17 years.

Paired with the top overall seed in the tournament, though, the Roadrunners failed to generate much of anything offensively in the face of a relentless defensive effort, and they fell 90-52 in the first round to the Huskies.

As UTSA (18-16) lost its first game since March 4, undefeated Connecticut (35-0) has now won 51 straight as it moves onward in a quest for a 13th national title.

“They’re really, really good and our team, I do believe our team understood that,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said. “(Roadrunners players) had the correct mindset, the correct preparation, but we ran into a team that is really, really, really good and what they do really well defensively is not very inviting for our team and it hasn’t been, to be honest with you, all year long.

“We have struggled against pressure at times and even in our league and so I think it was a match-up that was probably pretty difficult for us, but I do want to commend our team for continuing to compete.”

UTSA guard Ereauna Hardaway thanked Aston for the opportunity to join the team after she elected to transfer last spring from the University of North Texas.

“I just want to start by saying thank you to coach for reaching out and allowing me to have the opportunity to play here,” Hardaway said. “I don’t think she knows, but the love that I gained for basketball this year is crazy.”

Hardaway said she loves all of her new friends.

“I had the best teammates,” she said. “We had a lot of ups and downs this season, but I really love them and I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to play here. It’s been a fun season for me. Everybody might not think it went how it was supposed to, but I had a great time this year.”

UTSA forward Cheyenne Rowe finished four for 11 from the field and scored 11 points in her final game as a Roadrunner. She also pulled down eight rebounds. – Photo by Denise DePiero, courtesy of UTSA athletics

UTSA forward Cheyenne Rowe seconded Hardaway’s comments.

“It takes finding the right coach and Coach Aston is definitely the right coach,” said Rowe, who has played three seasons at UTSA following a transfer from James Madison. “She helped me gain my love for basketball again and the players, too. They bought into what me and Ereauna wanted.

“We wanted to win. We wanted our team to want to win. Having players that follow you, that listen to instructions, it’s amazing. I got to thank them for everything.”

UConn shrugged off a slow start offensively and moved easily into Monday’s round of 32 against either Iowa State or Syracuse. The Cyclones and the Orange were scheduled to play the second game of the day in Storrs, Conn., later Saturday.

How it happened

In the final analysis of UTSA’s first trip to the NCAA tournament since 2009, Connecticut athletes were simply too big and two quick.

They pressed full court, trapped occasionally at halfcourt and forced 27 turnovers, leading to 35 points.

That the Huskies caused problems with their press didn’t come as a surprise. But the extent of the mayhem left the Roadrunners flustered early as they fell behind 19-6 at the end of one quarter and 48-14 at the half.

Connecticut All American Azzi Fudd, scoreless in a foul-plagued first half, started to heat up offensively in the third period as the Huskies continued to force the action on the other end.

By the end of the quarter, it was 75-30, and the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Though the Huskies finally took their foot off the gas in the last quarter, they finished with 90 or more points for the third game in a row and for the 16th time overall.

It was the most points given up by the Roadrunners all season even though the Huskies’ two All-Americans — Fudd and Sarah Strong — did not play in the fourth.

A team that prides itself on its play at the defensive end, UTSA held UConn to 49 percent shooting from the field, three points below its average.

The Huskies also struggled from the 3-point line, making only seven of 33, though many of the misses came on open looks from high-percentage, long-range shooters.

UTSA hit 40.9 percent from the field and 37.5 percent on six of 16 from the arc. Leading the Roadrunners were Rowe, Hardaway and Damara Allen, all with 11 points apiece.

UTSA women’s basketball coach Karen Aston credited her team for continuing to play hard after UConn opened a 34-point halftime lead. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Rowe, the most outstanding player in the American tournament, finished with eight rebounds in her last game for the Roadrunners. Also in her last game, Hardaway had four rebounds and four assists.

Allen, a sophomore from Aurora, Colo., was a surprise starter at guard. She hit a bucket in the first quarter and finished four of nine from the field.

Junior forward Idara Udo had seven points and four rebounds. Together, Udo and Rowe, the Roadrunners’ major inside scoring threats, connected on only seven of 20 from the field.

For the Huskies, Strong scored 18 points and led the Huskies’ trapping defense with five steals. Forward Blanca Quinonez, the freshman of the year in the Big East, added 15 points and five rebounds.

The 6-foot-4 Quinonez, from Ecuador, also led the charge defensively with three steals and two blocked shots. As a team, the Huskies frustrated the Roadrunners with 19 steals and six blocks.

Guard Ashlynn Shade enjoyed a big day with 14 points and seven rebounds, and sophomore Kayleigh Heckel came off the bench to score 11.

First half

Led by Quinonez and Strong and a relentless pressure defense, the Huskies built a commanding 48-14 halftime lead.

UTSA trailed 8-4 early when Mia Hammonds retrieved a loose ball and hit a floater.

An Ereauna Hardaway jumper cut the UConn lead to 13-6 with two minutes left in the first period.

After that, it was pretty much all Huskies, who went on a 35-8 sprint to the halftime buzzer.

UConn forced 19 UTSA turnovers in the first half and turned them into 24 points.

Strong led the Huskies offensively with 12 points, followed by Shade with 10 and Quinonez with 10.

Quinonez highlighted a dizzying sequence with two baskets and a steal near the end of the half.

After picking up a steal off an errant pass from UTSA’s Allen, she dribbled three quarters of the court and sank a layup. It was the start of a 7-0 run to the buzzer for UConn.

The Huskies have been off since March 9, when they completed a three-game romp to the Big East postseason crown.

In the tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn., Connecticut walloped Georgetown, 84-39, before romping past Creighton, 100-51, and Villanova, 90-51.

The Huskies have scored 80 or more points in 20 of 21 games since the turn of the new year.

On the flip side, their defense has been devastating during the same time period, yielding no more than 69 points and holding opponents to 49 or fewer 11 times.

UTSA, in turn, last played on March 14.

They won their last five games coming into the NCAA tournament, including a remarkable 4-0 push in four days for the American Conference postseason crown in Birmingham.

Records

UTSA 18-16
Connecticut 35-0

Coming up

NCAA Round of 32 at Storrs, Conn., Connecticut vs. Iowa State or Syracuse, Monday

Notable

UTSA will leave Connecticut still looking for its first NCAA tournament win. The Roadrunners are 0-3 all-time in the Big Dance.

Previously, they fell to Texas A&M, 91-52, in Baton Rouge, La., in 2008. The next year, they took Baylor to overtime in an 87-82 loss at Lubbock in 2009. Both years, UTSA played as a No. 15 seed against a No. 2.

UTSA assistant coach Amber Gregg has been part of all three of the program’s trips to the NCAA tournament. In 2008 and 2009, she was a player under Coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair. Now, Gregg is an assistant coach under Karen Aston.

UConn sophomore Sarah Strong and graduate student Azzi Fudd have both been named first-team All Americans by both the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and the Associated Press.

Strong is also a finalist for the Wade Trophy, given each year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association to the nation’s best player. Other finalists are Lauren Betts of UCLA, Mikayla Blakes of Vanderbilt and Madison Booker of Texas.

Editor’s note

The JB Replay did not travel to Connecticut. The San Antonio-based website that has covered all of the UTSA women’s basketball home games on site this season has accessed transcripts of interviews in Storrs as provided by the NCAA.

UTSA’s Mia Hammonds had five points, four rebounds and a steal. Hammonds was a key player in UTSA’s five-game winning streak prior to the NCAA tournament. – Photo by Denise DePiero, courtesy of UTSA athletics

The UTSA women celebrate Saturday night after claiming the American Conference postseason championship. – Photo courtesy of UTSA Athletics

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA women’s basketball team will play in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 17 years.

Sixth-seeded UTSA played suffocating defense and routed the No. 1 Rice Owls 54-40 Saturday night in Birmingham, Ala., to claim the American Conference postseason title.

With the championship came an automatic bid into the NCAA field of 68.

Riding a five-game winning streak, including four in four days in Alabama, UTSA (18-15) will find out its destination and opponent Sunday night.

In the wake of the loss, Rice (28-5) has been left in limbo, wondering if its full body of work this season will be good enough for an NCAA at-large bid.

UTSA guard Ereauna Hardaway delivered in the championship game with 13 points, five rebounds and four assists. In 30 minutes of playing time, she had zero turnovers. – Photo courtesy of UTSA athletics

Led by Cheyenne Rowe, Idara Udo and unflappable senior guard Ereauna Hardaway, the Roadrunners opened a seven-point lead after a grind-it-out first half, fended off a brief flurry from the Owls in the third period and then dominated the rest of the way.

“I’ve always thought this team could be a championship contender,” said Rowe, who was named most outstanding player in the tournament. “Never a doubt in my mind. But, to me, this moment is surreal. I never thought I specifically would be here.

“But my teammates always believed in me. My coaches believed in me. The athletic trainers, the academic advisors. Everyone believed in me. Without them, I don’t know if I would be where I am now.”

The Roadrunners’ performance in the American tournament is unmatched in the program’s 45 years.

In both 2008 and 2009, led by Coach Rae Rippetoe-Blair and star guard Monica Gibbs, they won Southland postseason titles and advanced to play in the NCAA tournament both seasons.

Each time, the Roadrunners won three games in the SLC’s postseason event in Katy to hoist the trophy. This time, for the first time in program history, UTSA won a conference tournament by winning four games in four days.

In addition, it is also the second-straight season that the Roadrunners have claimed a championship in the American.

Last year, with Player of the Year Jordyn Jenkins setting the pace, the Roadrunners rolled to a 26-5 record and won the American’s regular season at 17-1.

But as last year’s squad entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed, it stumbled in its first game in the quarterfinals at Frisco and lost to the Owls.

This season, they entered the tournament under the radar, but not lacking in confidence.

UTSA forward Cheyenne Rowe produced 13 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. She was named most outstanding player in the tournament. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Buoyed by a 61-52 win over Rice in the regular-season finale at Houston, UTSA traveled to Birmingham with renewed confidence, which led to consecutive victories over Temple, third-seeded South Florida and No. 2 East Carolina.

Finally, UTSA capped the run with its second emphatic victory over Rice in seven days. This one, for all the marbles, so to speak.

“Obviously, I couldn’t be any happier for our school, to have the opportunity to go play in the NCAA tournament,” UTSA coach Karen Aston said.

“And, most importantly,” the coach continued, “our players, our staff, you know, I told them before the game that, I just appreciated how they’ve approached this tournament.

“Really, just how they’ve stayed in the trenches no matter what’s happened all year long. They’ve been resilient, staff included.

“Like everybody, really stayed on one page, and that’s difficult when you have a group of 25 or 30 people to keep ’em all headed in the right direction.

“This group has done that, and I think they deserved what they got today. I think that they played with purpose all week long, and, in particular today, I thought we played fantastic.

“Kudos to Rice for the run to the tournament,” Aston continued. “Terrific team. But I did think that our team played really, really well today, and I’m super proud of ’em.”

One year after claiming the conference’s regular-season title, Aston’s legend continues to grow.

In her 18 seasons as a head coach, she has now led three programs to a combined eight NCAA tournaments.

The first one came in 2009 at Charlotte, followed by six more at the University of Texas in consecutive years from 2014 to 2019, and now one in her fifth season at UTSA.

This one might have been her best work in the whole bunch, everything considered.

UTSA forward Idara Udo notched 11 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots against the Owls. Udo and Ereauna Hardaway were named to the all tournament team. – File photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA had five scholarship players sit out the entire season with injuries.

Included in the group that did not play was Maya Linton, one of the best on-the-ball defenders in the conference last season, plus promising sophomore Taylor Ross and freshman Sema Udo.

Sema Udo is Idara Udo’s younger sister.

To make matters worse for UTSA, Idara Udo sat out eight games, including one at Columbia on Dec. 20 and the next seven to start play in the American’s schedule.

Through it all, Aston never lost faith in the group even during a 2-5 slump from Jan. 31 to Feb. 24.

Not even after it fell behind by 38 points on Feb. 24 at North Texas before losing by 24.

Aston was visibly shaken on March 4 when UTSA lost 53-41 to Tulsa at home, a game in which UTSA scored only one point in the second quarter.

But after a team meeting, the Roadrunners started to click. They journeyed on to the road and beat the Owls on March 7 in Houston to close the regular season.

Flanked in a postgame press conference Saturday by Rowe, Udo and Hardaway, the coach said it started with those players.

“They’re strong leaders,” she said. “They’re very, very competitive.

“They play with purpose. They practice with purpose … I think a piece of it was Idara getting healthy, healthy enough to help us down the stretch.

“It took time, because of the injuries and because of Ereauna getting to know our team and our system. Sometime, when you have system in place that people do believe in, then you can turn the tide at any point.”

She said the turning point came over the last week when young players such as Hammonds and Damara Allen started to “grow up a little bit” and make major contributions.

Karen Aston has now guided three different college basketball programs to eight NCAA tournaments in her 18 years as a head coach — including one at Charlotte, six at Texas and now one at UTSA. – File photo by Joe Alexander

“I thought that was the biggest difference for us,” she said.

Against Rice, Rowe had 13 points and eight rebounds. Hardaway, a standout Friday night against East Carolina, also scored 13, to go along with four assists and five rebounds.

Idara Udo, whose defense in the paint led a group that held the Owls to their lowest point total of the season, also produced on offense with 11 points. She had six rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

On the defensive end, the Roadrunners were superb. They locked down the Owls to a season-low in points on only 27.1 percent shooting from the field.

Victoria Flores, the player of the year in the American, and fellow first-team all-conference selection Dominique Ennis were held to a combined 14 points on five of 19 shooting.

Another perimeter threat, Aniah Alexis, scored two points on one of 11 shooting.

Inside scoring threat Shelby Hayes, thwarted by Udo, Rowe and others, was held to five points.

San Antonio’s Hailey Adams, a Rice redshirt junior from Clark High School, led the Owls in scoring with 12 points on six of 11 shooting. The rest of the team shot 10 for 48.

Notable

Rice coach Lindsay Edmonds said she thinks her team deserves an at-large NCAA tournament bid.

“I do believe we’re a team that deserves to be in the NCAA,” she said. “I hope the committee will look at that, and we’ll be a two-bid league this year.”

Both Edmonds and Aston are in their fifth seasons at their respective schools. The Rice job is Edmonds’ first as a head coach. She is 101-59 with a trip to the WNIT in 2023 and to the NCAA in 2024.

Rice coach Lindsay Edmonds said she thinks her team, at 28-5, deserves a bid to the NCAA tournament. – File photo by Joe Alexander

In five years at UTSA, Aston took over a program that had won two games the previous season and has compiled a record of 82-77, with trips to the WNIT in 2023-24, the WBIT in 2025 and now the NCAA this season.

Last season, Aston’s Roadrunners entered the American tournament as the No 1 seed and were beaten in the quarterfinals by Edmonds’ Owls. This season, Rice beat UTSA 65-55 in San Antonio on Jan. 31. UTSA returned the favor, winning 61-52 in Houston, on March 7.

Aston’s Roadrunners are now 7-4 against Edmonds’ Owls over the past five seasons.

First half

UTSA entered the finals of the tournament coming off three wins in three days.

Rice, with a triple bye into the semifinals, knocked off No. 5 North Texas to earn its third straight trip to the American finals.

From the outset, however, it was UTSA that seemed to have all the energy.

The Roadrunners played stifling defense and did just enough on offense to take a 20-13 lead.

Trailing by two going into the second quarter, UTSA started to move the ball around, getting multiple players involved.

Adriana Robles, Damara Allen and Mia Hammonds all hit field goals midway through the period for UTSA.

Robles drove to her right and flipped the ball high off the glass for a layup. Allen spun and tossed in a 10 footer with her left hand.

Hammonds used her quickness and length to drive right and sink a six-foot runner.

Rowe, who led the Roadrunners with eight points at the half, sank the last bucket on a fancy dribble move in the paint, followed by a left-handed finish from 10 feet.

Rice, meanwhile, went scoreless in the last 4:43 of the half.

For the half, the Owls hit only five of 31 from the field for 16.1 percent. Rice stars Victoria Flores and Dominique Ennis were held largely in check.

Sophomore forward Mia Hammonds had nine points, six rebounds and a steal against the Owls. During the team’s five-game winning streak, she has scored 48 points on 22 of 35 shooting from the field. – File photo by Joe Alexander

Flores had three points at the half, while Ennis was scoreless. Combined, the two first-team, all-conference performers were one for 12 from the floor.

Records

UTSA 18-15
Rice 28-5

Coming up

UTSA will learn on Sunday night its destination and opponent in the NCAA Tournament.

The tournament opens with NCAA First Four games on Wednesday and Thursday, with the Round of 64 openers set for Friday and Saturday.

American Conference
Women’s basketball tournament
At Birmingham, Ala.

Tuesday

Game 1 — (9) FAU defeats (8) Charlotte, 74-70, overtime
Game 2 — (7) Temple defeats (10) Tulane, 86-77, overtime

Wednesday

Game 3 — (5) North Texas defeats (9) FAU, 80-57
Game 4 — (6) UTSA defeats (7) Temple, 59-51

Thursday

Game 5 — (5) North Texas defeats (4) Tulsa, 76-73
Game 6 — (6) UTSA defeats (3) South Florida, 62-51

Friday

Game 7 — (1) Rice defeats (5) North Texas 71-67
Game 8 — (6) UTSA defeats (2) East Carolina, 54-44

Saturday

Game 9 (championship) — (6) UTSA defeats (1) Rice, 54-40.

Records

y-(1) Rice 28-5, 17-1
y-(2) East Carolina 22-10, 14-4
y-(3) South Florida 20-12, 13-5
y-(4) Tulsa 19-12, 11-7
y-(5) North Texas 19-14, 11-7
x-(6) UTSA 18-15, 9-9
y-(7) Temple 15-17, 8-10
y-(8) Charlotte 14-18, 8-10
y-(9) FAU 14-18, 7-11
y-(10) Tulane 11-20, 6-12

x-tournament champion
y-eliminated

The UTSA women on Saturday night celebrated a conference postseason title and an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Please see my updated story. https://t.co/hyCDEtJ4sq pic.twitter.com/zgmvFEkXex

— Jerry Briggs (@JerryBriggs) March 15, 2026